Salt And pH Tunable Resist Patterns On Polyelectrolyte Multilayers

A method for selectively removing a resist material from the polycationic surface of a polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) ?lm, Without disturbing adhering interactions between the cationic ?lm surface and bound biomaterials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. The resist material is one that that inhibits or prevents the further deposition of cells or other biomaterial; it thus masks the cationic surface from application of biomaterials. In one embodiment the resist material is a carboxy functional oxyalkylene oligomer. It is removed by exposing the ?lm containing the bound biomaterial and the bound resist material to a pH below 4.5, and/or to a salt concentration of higher than 0.01 M